God at Work Blog

God had great things in store for us on our trip to Uganda, but then doesn’t He always! The schedule was packed before we left and we even added some things along the way! For Julia and I, who had been there in 2013, our return trip was filled with joy as we met up with old friends, enjoyed fellowship, and thoroughly enjoyed the truly organic, delicious meals we remembered with them! Three years ago the children were so much smaller!! But now they have grown, are thriving, always happy, it seems.

We visited five care points teaching and loving kids of all ages! For older high school and ABIDE students we taught out of Ephesians 6:10-17 the Armor of God, used visual aids by making a poster, which for the language-accent issues, was very helpful. For middle school age we taught out of Acts 2:1-13 and Galatians 5:22-26 about the Holy Spirit and the fruit it bears in our lives. To the youngest we taught F.R.O.G. (fully rely on God) and used the story of Moses/plague of frogs and how he fully relied on God to get his people out of Egypt. We find the children ready and anxious-to-learn, especially the older ones. The younger I’m sure picked up some of the teaching, but they often times are just so amazed that we are from America, our skin, our hair, etc., it is hard to keep them focused!!! Regardless, we saw happy, well-adjusted children throughout the care points and know that they have great hopes and expectations for their futures because the Lord loves and cares for them! We prayed with staff, visited ten of our own sponsored children, and saw the new Heal Clinic and learned about their outreach ministry to a nearby needy village.

Outside of the JAM ministry we visited and brought supplies to a refugee camp in Kisoro and we loved and served an orphanage in Kampala. The refugee camp was a transitional camp where most refugees were there for only twoweeks. Then they transport them to another refugee camp where they give them more supplies, and get this...land! They can use for farming to get themselves started to survive on their own. We prayed with the entire camp gathered and they were thankful, not all of them were Christians, but hopefully we planted some seeds by our prayers. At the orphanage, children ranged from ages birth to age 9. We loved and read to the children, did chores to give the staff a break, and brought clothes, and supplies.

It was hard for all of us to leave this country and its beautiful people. There is such evidence of a reliance upon God that I think we miss in the U.S. But now that we are home, we rely on our memories, our pictures, and the greatest bonding experience of a lifetime between our teammates to get us through until we return. Praise the Lord… God bless Uganda!

"The American culture is self-relying and sufficient. It relies on others approval and not the approval of our Father in Heaven. It focuses on selfishness and doing whatever it takes to succeed and become successful. The American dream is still alive but instead of helping each other reach the same goal, it creates division against one another. In Ghana they work together to push each other to success. They rely on God and not on others or themselves. They put others happiness and success in front of their own and only seek approval from their Heavenly Father. God's greatest commandment is to love one another and the people I met on this trip were true testimonies to that and that is what I hope to do with my life." Read More...